


Laundry

by andonlythinkofme



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, M/M, Puppy Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2563445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andonlythinkofme/pseuds/andonlythinkofme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If it makes you feel any better, I think your scar looks wicked.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this last night and decided to just post it. I like it a lot so I hope you all will too.

Fat clumps of snow collected on the foggy pane of Sirius’ dark window. Without the constant noise of his roommate James or the murmur in the halls, the snow was taking up more of Sirius’ attention than it otherwise would. Winter hols were the worst.

“Mum and Da would love to have you over, mate. You should just come with me,” Sirius mimicked James’ last words to him before he got on a train back to the cozy Potter’s residence to spend Christmas with his fantastic, loving, gift-giving parents while poor Sirius languishes away in the deserted dorm. The fact that Sirius turned him down was beside the point. Sighing forlornly, Sirius turned from his window to gaze about his room, hoping something interesting would appear. On the other side of the window, across from Sirius’ own bed was James’ made up with the same red and gold bed set Mrs. Potter had given them at the beginning of the semester. Between the beds lay various articles of clothes, sheets of paper, batteries, candy wrappers, and all other sorts of things two sixteen year olds would have in a dorm. Sirius didn’t glance at his desk positioned at the foot of his bed, anything that would be on the wood top wouldn’t be something Sirius would want to do over hols.

“Oh no, Jamie-boy. Don’t worry about me. People to see, beers to drink and all that,” Sirius dramatically re-said his dismissal of James’ invitation. He shoved his long, black hair away from his face. On the bed beside his right thigh lay his small, second hand lip phone. After he’d left his parent’s house, Sirius had to leave his shiny, new iPhone there along with most of his clothes and his bike. The old phone the Potter’s gave him didn’t have internet access of anything fancy, but he could at least text and call. Sirius clicked on James’ number. On the third ring, his roommate picked up.

“Hello?” a slightly slurred James answered.

“Jamie-boy, how are you? Spending Christmas well?”

“Bored already?” James’ self-assured chuckle burned down Sirius’ ear.

“Of course not! I’m just calling to make sure you’re having fun, Prongs. I wouldn’t want you to be bored.” As the words left Sirius’ mouth, he could hear laughter and music on the other end. Sirius’ chest tightened.

“Oh sure, Padfoot. Okay, okay, I do need to go, people to woo and all. Not saying that you’re bored or anything but if you are, well, you could,” James broke out in giggles, for a few seconds, “like, do the laundry or something.” The last few words were lost to James’ drunken giggling. The tight chest turned into a knot.

“Yeah, alright, Prongs, go on then.” The two clicked off, James to go party, and Sirius to look at his shadowy ceiling. The small screen on his phone read one-thirty seven in the morning. He waited for a few minutes, long enough to go through all the possible options he had. When nothing came up, Sirius knew he had reached a new low.

“Laundry it is,” he mumbled, rolling out of bed.

xxx

Hogwarts is and always has been one of the finest boarding schools for young boys in all of England. It has an old, historically prominent campus with spires that reach the clouds and a sprawling grounds with a lake and a densely wooded perimeter. The professors were first class, if a bit strict and the student body were supposedly the top of the top. It all made Sirius cringe. If it weren’t for James and Peter, two of the best lads in all of Hogwarts in Sirius opinion, the eldest Black boy would have dropped as soon as he could. As Sirius trudged down to the basement of Gryffindor Hall, he wondered why such a fantastically recommended school couldn’t afford proper lighting for the laundry room. Plastic laundry basket filled up with clothes under one arm, pouch of coins in the other Sirius lumbered to the dark, dusty laundry room.

“I could be at the Potter mansion. I could be drinking and laughing. I could be having so much fun right no but no! No! I had to stay here.” Sirius’ voice bounced off the walls. Finally at the bottom, he shouldered open the laundry room door.  
And promptly has a heart attack.

“What the fuck!” He dropped everything in shock. The other boy screamed as well. Breathing deeply, Sirius glared at the person who nearly killed him. He was tall, much taller than Sirius himself, with shaggy brown hair, light brown eyes, and a horrifically long scar that stretched from the bottom of his right eye across his nose to the left half of his jaw. At any other time Sirius would have been fascinated by such a mark but not with his heart racing towards cardiac arrest the way it was.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sirius gasped out, a long fingered hand clutching at the fabric above his heart.

“What, laundry? Laundry! That’s what I’m doing! What are you doing? Screaming and all!” The boy huffed and stuttered. A large detergent stain was forming in his oversized blue woolen sweater.

“Well alright then.” With hurried hands, Sirius grabbed up all his items.

“Alright.” The boy responded meekly. Sirius approached the washer two over from the one the boy was filling. Silently the two worked. If there was one thing Sirius couldn’t do, it was be silent for any length of time. His mother had rapped his knuckles numerous times in an effort to curb his motormouth, but well, Sirius never did listen.

“So what are you doing here?” He asked. The brown eyed boy tilted his head enough to glance at Sirius. The skin between his brows furrowed in confession.

“I’m doing laundry, same as you.”

“No, no, I mean what are you doing in the more cosmic sense, mate. Why aren’t you home for hols?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” the boy replied lightly. He slipped a few coins into the slot and began to turn. Maybe it was the boredom of the night, maybe it was his lonely thoughts and empty room and the prospect of the long hours stretched out before him but Sirius was suddenly afraid of being alone.

“Hey, uh, wait. I’m almost done here.” He called out to the boy.

“So?” Came the brunette’s short reply.

“So, uh, we could maybe hang out. It would appear that we’re the only two in the Hall. It would be such a shame to be so alone when there is a possibility of being entertained.” Sirius laid on the Black charm thick, a bit of lip, some twinkle in his eye and all.

“I don’t even know you. Plus I have homework so goodnight.” Again, the boy turned and this time he left. Quickly Sirius shoved the remainder of his clothes in the wash and pushed in a few coins to start it up. He sprinted off into the dimly lit hallway after the boy.

“Wait, wait up, mate!” He caught up to the brunette at the landing.

“Come on! You’re really going to do homework over hols? We could, I don’t know, watch a film or, or maybe go for some food.” Sirius pleaded as much as his posh upbringing would allow him to. His gut twisted and gnawed at the very idea of leaving for his room alone now that he knew that wasn’t his only option.

“My name is Sirius,” He added on as an after thought. The boy continued to gaze at his quizzically. It must have been odd. Two in the morning and some bloke demands your company when you think you’d have the Hall all to yourself. Still, Sirius did not back down.

“Remus, um, Lupin. Remus Lupin.” Remus stuttered.

“Well, Remus, mate, would you like some company while you do your homework?” Remus stared off down the corridor for a minute, considering, before he turned to look back at Sirius.

“Fine, but I retain the right to kick you out whenever I want.”

“Deal!” Sirius beamed up at Remus’ frowning face.

xxx

All of Remus’ posters have equations on them. Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell, and a few other old white people Sirius couldn’t place. Laying on Remus’ bed, Sirius could see them all pasted on his ceiling. The room was tiny, just enough for Remus’ lanky from to bustle about. The two boys together in this single room was a tight fit. The blankets were a washed out oatmeal color about the same shade as Remus’ sweater.

“Your bed is way too comfortable. Who did you bribe?” Sirius snuggled down further into the mattress. Pushed up against the other wall was the desk that Remus now sat at, typing on an old laptop.

“No one.” Remus responded absently.

“Oh come on,” Sirius rolled onto his stomach to better see his reluctant host, “James’ parents practically fund this school single handedly and our beds are lumpy!” Remus, the giant tease, scooted back just a bit from his desk. Sirius could make out the bottom corner of his scar and a glint of his brown eyes.

“How have I never seen this bloke before?” Sirius thought. Now, Sirius had quite a reputation. On the Hogwarts Facebook page, the student population even called him the

“Gryffindor Lady Slayer”. The truth of these statements didn’t have to be verified to spread. Sure, Sirius had made it with a few ladies here and there, but for the most part he used his charms for good, like passing trigonometry or avoiding detention. It’s not like he kept it a secret, his male leanings and such, it’s just that between football and friends and pissing off his parents, it was difficult to indulge his deeper interests.

“James?” The brunette asked, snapping Sirius out of his thoughts.

“Oh, uh, yeah James. He’s my roommate. He and this guy Peter are my two best mates.” At Peter’s name, Remus started. He fully pushed back his chair to stare at Sirius.

“Peter? Round boy? Likes football?” Remus’ voice, deep and gravelly, washed over Sirius.

“Um, yeah, yeah. Light brown hair, wears trainers with those, uh, blue stripes on the sides,” Sirius croaked. His voice sounded practically pre-pubescent compared to Remus’.

“I think I may know him. Did he take Chemistry?” Remus asked. His scar should have distorted his smile yet if anything, Sirius thought it gave him character. Sirius beamed right on back.

“Yeah I think he did last term. Does he sniffle after each question he asks?”

“My God, yes! Like a pug, or, or, a pig or something. Frank and I, a friend of mine right down the hall, Lord,” Remus’ voice quivered with amusement, “we would have to hide our faces sometimes cause we laughed so hard!”

“Oh don’t I know it! Peter, man, he’s a great mate but James and I, sometimes we can’t help but laugh.” The two boys lapsed into giggles for a few seconds. Still laughing under his breath, Remus glanced back at his laptop.

“Ya’ know, maybe I could write this paper later.”

“Yeah,” Sirius sat up, “lets do something.”

xxx

“I’ve never been out this late before!” Remus flung out his arms. The two of them were walking down the center of the road. Behind them, Hogwarts lay in shadows, before them, Hogsmeade spread out in Christmas lights. Between the two locations lay one empty road, the one Remus and Sirius were currently traveling on all bundled up in their winter coats.

“Well lets make the most of it then! Ever heard of the trap door in Honeydukes? We can get in after hours,” Sirius gasped out between laughs. Remus looked like a fairy. Snow clung to his eyelashes and moonlight glinted off his teeth as he spoke.

“No! Is that legal?”

“Well no,” Sirius hedged, “but the guys and I do it all the time. We always leave money  
behind though. So its not technically stealing.” Remus stopped walking but kept his arms out. Sirius caught up to the taller boy.

“Just trespassing,” the brunette quipped. He stared at Sirius with the sort of concentration that Sirius only got when he gave James advice on wooing his long-term crush Lily Evans. It stabbed Sirius in the gut.

“If you buy me some chocolate I’ll go with you.” Without a word, Sirius reached out to grab one of Remus’ gloved hands in his bare one. In tandem they raced towards the lights.

xxx

A small box of gummy bears tumbled to the floor. Hurriedly, Remus scrambled to collect all the packages splayed out on the floor. The two of them were crouched behind the front counter of Honeydukes, pulling out the bars of coca stashed there. Remus’ rear end had bumped into the create of gummies during the raid.

“Be careful!” Sirius chided playfully. Instead of being bashful, Remus winked up at him and stuffed a few more bars into his coat.

xxx

“Why here?”

“I like it here.”

“Everything is pink!”

“So? Didn’t take you for a sexist.”

“I’m not. It’s not because pink is for girls. It’s just that pink itself is horrid.” Sirius’ nose curled. Remus bumped shoulders with him. Both boys had a bar of Honeydukes finest clasped in their hands. A single light post illuminated their stretch of vision. The bench outside Madam Puddifoot's was not Sirius’ ideal location to bring a bloke, but it seemed to make Remus happy so he wouldn’t question it further. They sat in amiable silence. The frigid four in the morning air swirled about the in white wisps of settling snow.

“Why didn’t you go home for hols, Remus? I don’t think you’ve told me.” Remus took a large bite from his bar.

“You haven’t told me either,” the brunette replied.

“It’s, well, it’s complicated,” Sirius paused to collect his thoughts. It spoke well for Remus that he didn't jitter or question Sirius further like James would have. Remus just sat beside him, waiting.

“I don’t get on with my parents. That’s to say that, uh, my mother despises me,” Sirius chuckled sadly, “and I could have gone with James I guess but I, well, it seemed like charity. Which is daft ‘cause I have most of my things because of them, but, I guess the ole’ Black pride hasn’t left me yet.” Remus nearly stood up at Sirius’ statement.

“Black? As in Walburga Black? As in the woman who owns almost all the restaurants in London?”

“The very ones.” The two sat in silence again, this one far less pleasant. Sirius lost his appetite. Flashes of his mother screaming and his father’s stern face played over and over in his mind.

“I, uh, didn’t go home because of my family too.” Sirius’ head bobbed up at the broken silence. Remus was looking at his chocolate. That same focus that Sirius so desperately craved burned in his eyes.

“I had an accident. This dog my neighbor had, its name was Fenrir Greyback, stupid name really, but the dog was this old nasty thing. Used to chase after kids. It’s owner, Mrs. and Mr. Riddle, they just wouldn’t put it down. They just adored the beast. So a few months ago I was taking out the trash and the Riddle gate was open and the big ole’ grey dog comes tearing after me. I couldn’t outrun him. ‘Bout near tore my arm off,” Remus gestured to his left arm, the one closest to Sirius.

“He gave me a host of bites everywhere. Had to put Fenrir down.” Remus looked up at the lamp post above them. The light cut across his face, highlighting the puckered flesh of his scar.

“My family has been great, but its hard to, you know, see the way they look at me. It’s been months and my Mum still looks at me with tears I, I can’t see that at Christmas you know?” On instinct Sirius leaned his head on Remus’ shoulder.

“If it makes you feel any better, I think your scar looks wicked.” Remus barked out a laugh. He leaned his head down on top of Sirius’.

“Thanks,” Remus whispered. Their bars of chocolate melted slowly in their hands.

xxx

“Do you think maybe we should go to bed?” Remus asked. He lay close to Sirius so that they touched shoulder to shoulder.on Remus’ stupidly comfortable bed. The journey back to Hogwarts had been full of casual touches and laughter. Sirius wasn’t sure if it was a lack of sleep, the fact that he felt like they were the last two souls in the world, or a deep seated kinship he felt for the brunette. Maybe a mix of all of the above. Sirius snuggled closer to Remus’ warmth.

“Let’s just sleep here. It’s six, don’t make me go back to my room,” Sirius used his best whine. Remus huffed in loving exasperation. A wandering hand snaked its way under Remus’ head to stroke at the hair at the base of his neck. A deep purr of contentment slipped out of Remus at the touch.

“Fine,” Remus puffed, “you can stay, but only cause you’re warm. I don’t usually let boys sleep over on the first night.” The phrasing piqued Sirius’ interest.

“Usually? But occasionally you do let boys over?” Sirius could feel the heated blush spread over the brunette.

“Sometimes,” came the halted reply. Affection burned in Sirius’ chest. He liked Remus from all that he had learned of him in the past four hours. Sirius was never one to question his instincts. He leaned over and kissed Remus’ cheek, the rough, puckered scar tugged at his bottom lip for half a second.

“Merry Christmas, Remus,” he whispered so close that his breath warmed Remus’ cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Sirius.” Remus’ eyes moved from Sirius, to his lips, then back up. Sirius would have kissed him. He would love to run his hands all over Remus. To see the difference between his scars and the unharmed flesh. Sirius did like Remus. More than he’d liked anyone in a while, but he’d wait to do that. Maybe tomorrow after a few hours of sleep. Sirius laid back down with Remus who pulled his heavy comforter up over them. It was a short time before Sirius was fast asleep.


End file.
